This promotion is pretty simple. Schedule six or more recurring rent/mortgage payments, as far in the future as you like, and pay with a MasterCard. You’ll see the 1.75% fee automatically. Offer ends (i.e. you must finish setting up your recurring payments by this date) September 30, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST.

Tip: You will get errors if you try to schedule payments that go beyond your credit card expiration date. Double-check this if you get a message telling you to call in.

This is potentially useful for meeting minimum spend on a MasterCard and a moneymaker if you have the Citi AT&T Access More card, which has been confirmed to earn 3x TYP on Plastiq transactions.

Here’s a referral link for Plastiq (we both get a few bucks out of it, nothing serious).

The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card is now available for application. It is subject to the 5/24 rule, however, so if you’ve opened 5 or more credit cards in the past 24 months, it is highly unlikely that you’ll be approved.

The offer actually says 800 points for spending $50, but you are allowed to complete the offer twice. You can also do this with a single $100 gift card and don’t have to bother with two $50 purchases. Expires 8/20/16.

There are quite a few gift card exchanges paying out 88% on Best Buy gift cards, so you come out with a small profit as long as you value Plenti points over 0.75 cents each.

This is obviously a small play due to the $100 limit, but hopefully this helps someone with a minimum spend requirement.

Samsung Pay is having a Back to School 20% off gift card promotion through 8/31/16. To purchase, open the app and click Add and then Buy Gift Cards under the Gift Cards tab.

The terms say no more than four gift cards per day up to $200 in total value as well as a limit of $500 in value during the entire promotion. However, I purchased 5 x $50 = $250 worth of gift cards both yesterday and today, so the daily gift card limits are not being enforced as written. I’ll test the $500 limit tomorrow.

The only good option for reselling is the $50 Overstock.com gift card for $40. Both Giftcard Zen and ABC Gift Cards are paying 80% for Overstock.com gift cards, and both allow electronic submission as well.

No real profit here, but this is a good way to rack up some spend for a signup bonus.

There are a couple of new things I’ve been meaning to post, both of which came from Doctor of Credit. If you follow his blog already, ignore this post. I have very little to add, so here are direct links to his blog:

Doctor of Credit just broke the news that Citibank is now restricting signup bonuses to one bonus per 24-month period in which you’ve opened or closed any card within the same brand (e.g. Citi ThankYou, American Airlines, Expedia, Hilton).

To restate this with an example, if you are approved for a card such as the Citi ThankYou Prestige, which earns ThankYou points, you will not receive the signup bonus if you’ve opened or closed any other card earning ThankYou points (e.g. Citi ThankYou Preferred, Citi ThankYou Premier) within the past 24 months. The same rule will apply among cards earning American AAdvantage miles, Expedia points, Hilton HHonors points, etc.

The only silver lining so far is that personal and business cards are treated as separate brands, so you could apply for AAdvantage-earning personal and business cards within the same 24-month period and receive signup bonuses for both.

Going forward, it appears that the best strategy for Citibank will be to cancel any cards you plan to churn as soon as you receive their signup bonuses.

Quick Summary

City National Bank will not refund nor prorate the annual fee on the Crystal Visa Infinite Card once it has posted to your account. If you do not intend to renew the card and to pay the annual fee, you must cancel your card before the annual fee posts.

Discussion

This is an addendum to the Crystal Visa Infinite Card credit card agreement that was sent out to cardholders early this year. I thought it’d be worth posting a reminder for anyone who may have gotten in on last year’s 100,000 point offer, as I haven’t seen these changes discussed on any other blogs. If memory serves, early adopters will have their annual fees posting starting in October.

Here is the pertinent part of the addendum:

Annual Fee – There is no annual fee for the first year your Account is opened. Thereafter, we will assess you an Annual Fee of $400.00. The Annual Fee is non-refundable except as indicated below. The Annual Fee will be posted to your Account each year in the same month in which your Account was originally opened. Subject to applicable law, we are entitled to collect the Annual Fee once it is posted to your Account even if you do not use your Account or if your Account is subsequently suspended, closed or terminated for any reason.

There’s no way of knowing yet how strict they are planning to be with this; however, on the reverse side is language for New York Residents Only mentioning that they may be able to receive a prorated refund and listing instructions on doing so. This makes me think they will be enforcing this rule in every state to the extent that they can.

You may not care about this if you plan on renewing your card and paying the annual fee. One reason you might choose to do this is if you are taking advantage of the somewhat widely-publicized perk that the $250 Airline Incidental Fees Statement Credit benefit is currently working on authorized user cards. This means you can get up to $1000 in refunds each year, assuming you have the maximum three authorized users.

In any case, if you’re not planning on renewing your account, cancel it before the annual fee posts. You’ve been warned.